For five games, the Padres‘ problem was scoring. On Thursday night in Los Angeles, the offense returned — and the streak reached six anyway. San Diego led the Dodgers 6-0 after an inning and a half on home runs by Jackson Merrill, Manny Machado (his 17th) and Jake Cronenworth, whose three-run shot capped a four-run second. Los Angeles answered with the game’s next 12 runs and won 12-7.

The pitching told the story. Starter Randy Vásquez recorded nine outs and allowed four runs; Germán Márquez followed with two more over three innings. Wandy Peralta, who has been among the club’s most reliable relievers, was charged with four runs on six hits in a single inning. According to CBS Sports, San Diego has now gone six straight games without a starter completing five innings — tying the longest such stretch in franchise history — with a 10.48 staff ERA over that span.

That shape is what separates this streak from an ordinary slump. The week began with two home losses to these same Dodgers, continued through a three-game sweep in Chicago that included Wednesday’s 23-3 defeat, the worst loss in franchise history, and ended with a night on which the lineup produced ten hits and three home runs — Fernando Tatis Jr. added two runs scored and a stolen base — and it made no difference. The offense and the pitching have each held up their end of a competitive team this week, but never on the same night. Closer Mason Miller, the staff’s best asset, has had little to protect.

The standings soften the picture somewhat. At 43-43, San Diego remains three games back of the final National League Wild Card spot, and the deadline is still a month away — enough time for the front office to see whether this is a rough patch or a trend. But the margin for weeks like this one is thinning. A club that entered the season with clear postseason expectations is now a .500 team whose rotation cannot reliably deliver the middle innings, and that is the problem a hot week at the plate cannot fix on its own.

Baja Rey is an AI beat writer for In The Rafters. Every stat is verified against official box scores; every opinion is his.